The Twilight Before the Darkness
by Twilails
Summary: When Tails saves a mysterious girl from a unit of strange robots, he becomes the target for a powerful anti-Mobian sorcerer bent on universal domination. Will he and Sonic be able to save the day? SonicxAmy, ShadowxOC, TailsxOC, some TailsxCream
1. Twilight

Best idea I've had so far, I think! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one better than my previous work! Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or any related characters, but I do own Twilight, Majesco, and Vincent! Warning: Later chapters will include blood, mild language, and some adult content, so read at your own risk!

Chapter One: Twilight

**Jungles of Mystic Ruins, eight years after the events of Shadow the Hedgehog…**

"Hurry up, Tails, another wave's coming this way!" Sonic yelled as he sped through the forest.

"Right behind you, Sonic!" Tails said, continuing to run. The young fox now wore a pair of black boots and black jeans, and a black scarf. He was keeping up with Sonic pretty well, having gotten faster over the years. He wasn't yet as fast as his best friend, but he was getting better, and Sonic was sure he'd catch up soon enough. The two soon came upon a unit of Eggman's robots.

"Let's do this!" Sonic said, drawing his sword and slashing through several of them.

"Take this!" Tails shot several arrows from his custom long bow, taking out more of them as his special arrows exploded on impact, and they soon finished the group off. "Another perfect run as usual!" Tails commented as he slipped his bow back into place in its sheath next to his quiver of exploding arrows.

"Got that right, little buddy!" Sonic said, sheathing his sword. Using a sword hadn't actually been his idea, but he hadn't had much choice under the circumstances; about a year after Shadow defeated Black Doom, he'd fought one of Eggman's most powerful robots, a robot with an armor of reinforced titanium. By the time Sonic had been able to saw through it, his quills had become so dull that he found they couldn't even cut through the weak armor of Eggman's robo-pawns. Tails had convinced him to take on swordsmanship, and with his speed, it was just as good. Tails himself preferred a bow and arrows, the ranged weapon voting more appealing than the close-ranged blade in his opinion.

"Well, I'd better get all these parts and the oil cleaned up, you should go back to the city in case Eggman launches another attack!" Tails said, and Sonic nodded in agreement, looking up at the sky. "Yeah, and Amy gets mad if I get home too late!" Sonic said. He'd married Amy earlier that year as he'd started growing closer to her when she nursed him back to health after the intense battle with the robot that had ruined his quills. Sonic soon sped off back to protect the city (and back to his wife), and Tails got to work.

"Hmm…I wonder why Eggman sent his robots all the way out…" He then got his first real look at the robots they'd just destroyed. "Wait a minute, these aren't Eggman's robots at all! Where did they come from?" Tails wondered about it as he picked up the scattered pieces of robot components and suctioned up all the spilled oil with a small invention of his.

Tails soon got back to his workshop and took care of all the robot remains. It had taken him a few hours, and it was already around 10 o'clock, so he took a nice warm bath and went to bed. He couldn't shake the thought of the mysterious robots, though, and he lay awake for hours thinking about it. Eventually, he drifted off, though it seemed like just a second after he closed his eyes that he woke up, though he couldn't deny the sunlight starting to creep over the horizon through the window. He sighed and laid his head back down on the pillow, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get back to sleep. He groaned. "Might as well get up, then!"

He got up and took a cold shower to help him wake up before getting dressed and heading downstairs. He was in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal, when a loud scream was suddenly heard from outside. He quickly ran to the window, finding more robots like the ones from yesterday chasing a vixen that was about his own age. She had orange fur and long green hair with a loose pony tail in the back with a black bow tied around it. She wore black boots with red straps, a black denim miniskirt, a black tube top with a zipper in the middle, and black fingerless gloves with red straps that covered most of her arms. And, to Tails' surprise, she had two tails, just like he did!

As he watched, the girl twisted her ankle, falling to the ground. She drew a sword and held it towards the robots. "Leave me alone, stay back!" she hissed at them. Tails had seen enough. He quickly took a position at one of the thin, hidden loopholes he'd installed into the sides of the workshop, sliding the panel up and letting loose several arrows, the explosions quickly taking them out. He then ran outside towards the girl. "Hey, are you…WHOA!!" he stumbled backwards as she suddenly slashed at him, surprised.

"S-Stay back!" she said, her voice shaking a little. "I'm not going to be taken advantage of by anyone ever again, I swear it!"

"Hey, take it easy, who said I wanted to take advantage of anyone?" Tails asked, raising his hands defensively. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just wanted to see if your ankle was all right!" the girl narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "You're lying, you're just going to make it worse so that I can't escape and turn me into another 'possession'! You're just like all the others!" she accused him. Tails considered her for a moment, then slowly approached. She held her sword up to his throat, but he simply put his hand on the flat of the blade, gently but firmly pushing it away before crouching down to her level and gently putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm not going to hurt you!" he repeated gently. The girl was surprised, not used to being treated so tenderly. But as she looked into his eyes, she saw the true honesty his words contained.

"What's your name?" he asked suddenly.

"Hunh?" she was broken from her reverie, looking at him.

"Your name," Tails repeated.

"Oh, uh, my name…My name is Twilight!" she finally answered, taken aback that he'd wanted to know such a thing at all.

"Okay, Twilight, let's see if you can put any weight on that ankle!" Tails said, helping her up. Twilight cautiously put her foot down and leaned slightly on her ankle before crying out and almost falling over before Tails caught her. "I guess that answers that!" he said, smiling a little. He put her arm over his shoulder, supporting her so that she could walk as he led her back into his workshop. She was seemed nervous about going inside, but it seemed that she trusted him. He led her into the living room and gently laid her down on the couch before going to retrieve a first-aid kit. He carefully wrapped the injured ankle with a clean dressing to add support.

"I don't know yet if you broke it or just sprained it, but either way, you should just take it easy and stay off your feet for a while!" he told her.

"Okay…" Twilight replied, still a little uncertain about him.

"Call me if you need anything, I won't leave!" Tails said, getting up.

"Uh, wait!" Twilight said, and Tails paused as he got up. "Um…What SHOULD I call you?" she asked awkwardly.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to give you MY name!" Tails said as he rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed. "Well, my name's Miles, but you can call me Tails!" he replied and left the room. He went to the wall phone in the kitchen and dialed Sonic's number.

"Hello?" Sonic's sleepy voice answered the phone.

"Hey Sonic, it's Tails…Hey, listen, do you think you can handle Eggman alone for a while?" Tails asked.

"Uh…Sure, buddy, but why? Working on some big invention?" Sonic asked curiously, suddenly sounding more awake.

"Well, let's just say something came up, so I'm going to be busy for a little while!" Tails replied.

"Well, no problemo, ol' Egghead won't be more trouble than I can handle alone!" Sonic said confidently.

"I'm glad you understand!" Tails said brightly before hanging up.


	2. A Wizard and a Sorcerer

Chapter Two: A Wizard and a Sorcerer

Chapter Two: A Wizard and a Sorcerer

**Several lightyears above the Earth's atmosphere, inside a high-tech orbiting space station…**

A tall human boy walked through the high-tech corridors of the station. He was about eighteen and had long, spiky, silver shoulder-length hair. He wore jeans, a tight-fitting black t-shirt, and a long white trenchcoat with many buckles and snaps, a pair of lightly tinted blue rectangular shades that did little to hide his intense green eyes. He came to a high-tech control room and slipped into a high-tech control chair in the center of the room, pressing a button.

"Computer, status report of search bot units 562, 8953, and 76554!" He commanded.

"Processing...Units 562 and 76554 went off-line at approximately 20:15 P.M. previous night!" the computer replied. "Unit 8953 went off-line approximately 06:00 A.M. this morning!"

"So she's been able to disable them again…Oh well, computer, activate tracking chips of all three units!" the boy continued.

"Processing…Tracking chips not found. Conclusion: units 562, 8953, 76554 destroyed!"

"WHAT?!" he whirled around, and pressed another button, calling up a virtual screen in front of him as a keyboard swiveled out from under the chair. "There must be some mistake, how could she have POSSIBLY…"

"She's not alone anymore, Vincent!" a voice from behind him suddenly came, and Vincent whirled around, seeing a tall black Mobian cat about his age. He wore a set of wizard's robes covered with glowing stars and moons and a matching wizard's hat with the tip zig-zagging backwards behind his head, held on by his pointed ears.

"Majesco?! What're YOU doing here?!" he demanded.

"Oh, nothing much, just thought I'd check in and make sure that none of your plans actually WORK…But from the looks of things, I don't think I have to worry!" Majesco replied, smirking.

"You always were overly cocky!" Vincent growled. "And what do you MEAN she's not alone?! With HER past, she challenges anyone who so much as looks at her!" he demanded.

"Obviously, you've never heard of Tails!" Majesco replied, pulling out a small crystal ball. It lit up and projected an image of Tails above it like a hologram as a rainbow of colored lights flowed from it.

"Tails?" Vincent asked, looking over the image. "Hmm…Fitting name…So, what about him?" Majesco simply tossed lightly in the air and caught it, changing the image to a scene showing Tails helping Twilight to her feet and supporting her as he led her back towards his workshop.

"WHAT?!" Vincent was dumb-struck. "But why, how could she…"

"Simple; he showed her honesty and compassion, two important essentials her life had been missing!" Majesco replied. "Tails is one of the kindest and gentlest people I've ever seen, if anyone could get her to trust them, it would be him!"

"Tell me where he lives, NOW!" Vincent snarled, hurling a fireball at him, but Majesco simply raised a hand, and it fizzled out before him. "Your anger always has been your greatest weakness against other mages, you're one of the the most cantankerous sorcerers I've ever met! …Unfortunately, you seem to be doing well compensating for that by going after inexperienced Mobian mages!"

"Save me the the lecture on combat techniques and tell me!" Vincent growled.

"I could, but that would defeat the purpose of rubbing Twilight's newfound trust in your face!" Majesco replied, smirking.

"No matter, I'll handle that pacifist myself!" Vincent said, turning.

"One more thing…He may have a kind and gentle heart, but it was him who single-handedly destroyed the robot unit that was after her at the time! Keep that in mind while you're going after him!" Vincent whirled around to retort, but it was too late; Majesco was already gone!


	3. Sonic Goes Too Far

Greetings, fellow Sonic enthusiasts! In this chapter, Sonic will find out just what can happen if you take a joke too far…

Chapter Three: Sonic Goes Too Far

**A few weeks later, in the Mystic Ruins…**

"How's your ankle holding up so far, Twilight?" Tails asked as they walked along the field near the cliff overlooking the waterfall. It had turned out to be a sprain after all, and she had been able to support her weight on it since a few days ago. "It's a lot better thanks to you, Tails!" she replied, smiling. "I'm glad that I didn't really break it, I don't think it's a good idea to stay vulnerable for too long!"

"That's one thing I don't get," Tails said, turning. "Why is it that you're so suspicious of everyone around you? I mean, you nearly took my head off when I tried to help you two weeks ago!" Twilight's smiled disappeared and she looked at the ground, a little uncomfortable. "It's a long story…" she replied.

"Hey, I've got plenty of time! Besides, I haven't been working on that many inventions lately!" Tails replied, smiling.

"Well…Okay, I guess I could tell you…It all started…"

**A few hours later, same location…**

"I hope Tails doesn't mind me just dropping in like this!" Sonic said as he unboarded the train and jumped off the wooden scaffolding that lead to the platform. "But I haven't heard anything at all from him since he called me…I hope something hasn't…Well, well, well, what have we here?" he asked, grinning as he saw Tails and Twilight sitting together as Twilight told her story. Sonic grinned, and leaned against a tree. "Been a little busy these past few weeks, have we?" he asked playfully, and Tails jumped and turned.

"S-Sonic?! What're you doing here?!" Tails asked a little nervously.

"Just wanted to see how you've been! The others are worried too and they want to know too…Though I bet a certain someone would especially like to know about this little tidbit…"

"Wait, this isn't what it looks like! This is Twilight, she was hurt and I was taking care of her!" Tails quickly explained.

"Oh yeah, I bet you really 'took care' of her!" Sonic said, making finger quotation marks while Twilight looked away, her face turning rather red. "C'mon, you lived under the same roof and you're telling me NOTHING happened between you two?"

"Cut it out, Sonic, you're embarrasing her!" Tails chided, gesturing towards Twilight. "Besides, you KNOW I love Cream, I wouldn't cheat on her just because another girl ends up in front of my house in need of my help! What do you think this is, some cheap romance novel?!"

"I know, I just like messing with you once in a while!" Sonic said, grinning.

"Well, don't, Twilight has had a very rough past, and she doesn't appreciate joking like that!" Tails snapped.

"Well, it couldn't be THAT bad, could it? I mean, all that stuff, innocent girls wandering into dark alleys, who even hears of that stuff anymore?" Sonic asked, and Twilight turned, glaring at him.

"Sonic," Tails said warningly.

"What? You're the one who said this isn't some cheesy romance novel! I mean, think about it, an innocent, loveless girl, shunned by the world, meeting a handsome, charismatic modern-day Prince Char…" He never had a chance to finish the sentence as Twilight suddenly tackled him, knocking the wind out of him and sending them tumbling back. He tried to draw his sword, but Twilight spun and cracked him with the back of her fist, knocking him down and drawing her own sword, slashing away at him.

"Twilight, stop!" Tails cried out, horrified.

"No! It's people like him that have caused all my misery, all my shame and humiliation! That life is OVER, I won't EVER let any do that to me aga…" She was cut off as there was a sudden rush of wind and she felt a sharp pain in her back as one of Tails' arrows shot her. She dropped her sword, falling to the ground like a ragdoll as Tails ran forward to help Sonic.

"Are you all right?" He asked, helping Sonic to his feet.

"Y-Yeah, I think so!" Sonic said, still a little shaken.

"You should probably go, that bleeding doesn't look good!" Tails said, looking him over.

"Y-Yeah, good idea! Ame's gonna freak anyway, might as well not wait for it to get worse!" Sonic agreed, speeding off.

"Wha-What did you…" Twilight finally spoke, still lying like a ragdoll on the ground.

"The arrow I just hit you with has a point dipped in a non-lethal poison that spreads throughout your body to cause temporary paralysis!" Tails replied, yanking the arrow out and bandaging the small wound it had left as tears started streaming from her eyes.

"How…How COULD you?! I thought you were different, I thought you really were the one person who really…"

"Look, I don't deny that Sonic's joking was inexcusable, but he didn't know any better, he couldn't possibly have known the troubles you've been through most of your life! But all the same, he's my friend, and I won't back down from ANYONE who dares to threaten him, understand?" Tails demanded. He then softened and kneeled down next to her. "I know you've led a troubled life, but you can't take it out on everyone you meet, you've got to control yourself!" he explained. "It's not always easy, but if you don't, you might regret it more than anything else that's ever happened to you! Now come on, I have an antidote to make the poison's effects last off earlier back at the workshop!" he said, gently picking her up and heading back.


	4. Amy's History Lesson

Hey, all! In this chapter, Twilight's tortured past will be revealed, and Tails will start to try and help her put her past behind her once and for all! Just to warn you, though, her past is pretty intense, so Tails' job will NOT be easy!

Chapter Four: Amy's History Lesson

**A few days later…**

"Wh-Where am I?" Tails asked, looking up. He seemed to suddenly be in some kind of dark, damp dungeon with absolutely no recollection of how he might've ended up there. He discovered his wrists were shackled securely above his head to the grimy stone wall he was against. As he took all this in, he became aware of a pounding, a rapid, rhythmic pattern that paused for a few seconds before continuing, louder than before. It got steadily louder, louder, whatever was causing it would be on him in a matter of seconds…He screamed, sitting bolt-upright in his bed, taking a few moments to realize he was only dreaming. "A…Dream? Man, thank goodness, I thought for sure I'd…" BANG! BANG! BANG! He nearly jumped out of his fur and his tails puffed out to about three times their size as the pounding continued, before realizing someone had been pounding on his front door, which had probably worked itself into his twisted dream.

"Tails, open this door right now, or I'll break it down!" Tails groaned as he heard Amy's voice shouting at him. He got dressed and quickly went downstairs where a very nervous-looking Twilight was staring at the door. "Um, Tails?" she said questioningly.

"Well, you know how you attacked Sonic the other day?" Tails asked, and Twilight nodded. "Well, that's his wife!" he explained, and Twilight paled visibly under her fur. "Oooooh, CRAP!"

"Exactly!" Tails said, nodding. "You should probably run now!" Twilight didn't need to be told twice, and took off, looking for a place to hide. As she went, the door burst open in a shower of splinters, revealing a very ticked-off Amy brandishing her oversized hammer.

"Oh, uh, Amy! What brings you her…"

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Amy demanded, obviously not fooled by Tails' feeble attempt at playing dumb. "I'll pound her flatter than a piece of paper for what she did to Sonikku!" Tails ducked as she started swinging her hammer, running past him and smashing away anything in her way as she searched for Twilight. Sonic then came in through the wrecked doorway, looking just as scared of his wife as Tails did.

"Sonic…What…The…HELL?!" Tails finally managed.

"Hey, it's not like I had much of a choice! When something happens to me, she needs to know or she'll wreck the house trying to get it out of me!" a sudden crash and the tinkling of glass suddenly came from the kitchen, as if to emphasize his point. Sonic shrugged apologetically. "Sorry!" Twilight then came out from hiding when she was sure Amy wasn't in the room, her tails puffed out as much as Tails' were when he woke up. "Why would ANYONE marry such a violent woman?!" She asked shakily.

"Look who's talking…" Sonic muttered before Tails elbowed him. "Well, she's really pretty nice once you get to know her…" Tails explained.

"…But if you get her angry, get out of the way!" Sonic concluded.

"Aha, THERE you are!" Amy burst into the room again, and Twilight quickly drew her sword. She managed to block Amy's hammer with the blade, but she quickly spun and smashed her with the hammer, sending her crashing through a wall and tumbling to the ground outside. Amy ran after her while Tails quickly followed.

"This is for Sonikku!" Amy said as she stood over Twilight, raising her hammer over her head to pound her into the ground, but Tails quickly stepped in, catching the hammer below its head. "That's enough, Amy, she doesn't need any more pain than what she's already gone through!" he said as Twilight quickly got up. She took off across the field, scrambling up the nearest tree for refuge.

"What're you talking about?" Amy demanded as she twisted the hammer out of his grip and positioned it so she'd be ready to strike him if necessary.

"Uh, maybe we can do this inside WITHOUT the hammer!" Tails said nervously. "I think the couch was one of the things you DIDN'T destroy in there!"

Tails managed to calm Amy down enough to take her inside and explain about Twilight, while Sonic went and attempted to convince Twilight to come down from the safety of the tree. Tails sighed, looking down at his hands in thought as he and Amy sat on the couch. Finally, after several minutes, he looked up. "All right, this isn't going to be any easier to hear as it is going to be for me to tell, so listen closely, because I'm not going to repeat anything…And quite frankly, I don't think I'm going to need to repeat it!" he started. "Before she attacked Sonic the other day, Twilight told me about her past, and I think you should hear it too; it all started eleven years ago, when she was only five! That's when she was treated to the harsh reality of society's dark side…Her parents were killed in a gang riot in their own neighborhood, and she was kidnapped and subject to their cruel torture before they threw her in an alley and left her for dead.

"Since that fateful night, she's been kidnapped more times than she can count, tortured by stabbed, burned, cut, raped, and even forced into prostitution for money on several occasions! Because of this, she was hardened, and she became cold, unable to get close to anyone or to trust anyone who gave her a second look. She doesn't know what it's like to love or to be loved, she doesn't remember what it's like to be really happy…Loss, misery, pain, hate, and spite are all she knows!" he hung his head as he finished, feeling the weight of the brutality of Twilight's past. Amy was horrified, devastated by the shock of what Tails had just told her. She trembled, just barely being able to keep her composure by employing every inch of her self-control. "But she's here…H-How did she get away, how did she…"

"She managed to escape from her most recent captors earlier this year, and was able to obtain the outfit she now wears and channeled all her anger and rage for all the people who abused her in the past into training, and she's now a very dangerous fighter as a result."

"B-But…I beat her easily, she didn't put up much of a fight!" Amy replied, confused.

"That's the problem, all that abuse has made her too afraid of other people, when an opponent threatens her in combat, she's just too submissive and relies only on defensive techniques in the hope for a chance to escape. She has no spirit and no hope, she can't believe in herself! The only reason she attacked Sonic at all was because he'd made her angry, he'd reawakened all the hate that had been building up in her over the years!" Tails sighed. "She's severely damaged emotionally, to the point that she's hardly even civilized anymore, and I plan to protect her and to start the healing process so that she can have a normal life and a meaningful existence again! I don't care how long it takes, I'll give her new life no matter what it takes!" at that moment, Sonic came in with Twilight, having finally managed to get her down from the tree. At the sight of her, Amy finally couldn't take it anymore and broke down, pulling a surprised Twilight into a tight embrace and breaking down into tears. "I'm so sahrry!" she choked out, her nose starting to run so she couldn't speak clearly. "I'll nebber hurd you agaid!"

"Uh, Tails, what did you…" Sonic said, worried about his wife.

"History lesson." Tails replied simply, and Sonic frowned, thinking for a moment. "Oh, you mean…" he looked at Twilight.

"Exactly!" Tails confirmed. Twilight simply stood there, stunned, not knowing what to do as no one had ever acted that way towards her, showing her any regret or remorse for a wrong done to her. Sonic kneeled down next to Amy and comforted her, and after a few minutes she calmed down, sniffed, and wiped her eyes, standing up and quietly leaving with him as he led her out. Twilight stood there for a minute longer, still surprised before finally finding her voice. "What was…"

"I told her about your past…It's not exactly easy for someone like her to hear, you know!" Tails replied.

"I know," Twilight said sadly, looking down.

"Well, it's all going to change starting right now, come on!" Tails replied, taking her hand and leading her outside towards the train platform.

"Where are you taking me?" Twilight asked, a little nervous.

"I'm going to take you with me and Cream to show you some of the good life!" Tails told her, smiling.

So, what do you think? Please review, I don't get a lot of them, but I appreciate any, even flames! And yes, Cream WILL be in the next chapter for those of you TailsxCream fans out there!


	5. A Day with Cream

In this chapter, Twilight spends the day with Tails and Cream, plus an unexpected arrival of a powerful new ally! Enjoy!

Chapter Five: A Day with Cream and a New Friend

**Later…**

"Tails, are you really sure…"

"Look, Twilight, I've told you five times already, she won't mind!" Tails replied, exasperated. "You don't know Cream, she's too kind to refuse anyone, if I want to take someone else along with us, she'd understand! Besides, she never seems to mind when Eggman attacks and I have to leave in the middle of a date to help Sonic fight him!"

"Well…If you say so!" Twilight replied, though she was still a little unconvinced. They soon came upon Cream's house, where she was in the front garden with Cheese, braiding flowers into a crown. She looked up as Tails approached, smiling. "Good morning, Tails!" She said sweetly, walking over and placing the flower crown on his head kissing him lightly on the forehead. She then noticed Twilight, who was trying to blend in with the background, rather unsuccessfully. "Oh? Who's this?" She asked, and Tails stepped back, pulling Twilight forward. "Cream, this is Twilight, she'll be coming with us today, if you don't mind!"

"Oh, of course I don't mind, it's very nice to meet you, Ms. Twilight!" Cream replied, curtsying to her.

"Chao chao!" Cheese put in, greeting Twilight as well.

"Uh, nice to meet you to, I guess!" Twilight said a little awkwardly. She was almost overwhelmed by Cream's gentle nature. She was just so sweet, so polite, so…Perfect! She'd never imagined anyone could be so pure, so full of kindness and goodness. She was the sort of person who valued and saw the potential in all life, someone who'd never intentionally cause harm to another living being.

"Well, shall we go?" Tails asked, pulling Twilight from her reverie.

"Y-Yeah, let's go!"

As the day went on, Cream continued to amaze Twilight. Cream seemed to be the exact opposite of what she was, she had no anger, no rage, absolutely nothing of herself displayed itself in Cream. Tails had believed spending time with Cream would be an effective step in Twilight's healing process, and he was right; already Twilight was feeling more at peace with the world, she was beginning to see the true good of people through Cream. And, for the first time in ages, she actually felt…Happy! Yes, there was no denying it, for the first time in eleven years, Twilight finally felt happy again, she had friends, she had her own life back! She still hadn't forgotten about her past, but she knew that Tails and Cream were the best things to ever happen to her, and she was eternally grateful for them.

Finally, it started to get dark, the city bathed in the soft glow of the twilight, and Tails was escorting Cream home, Twilight following close behind. Suddenly, there was an explosion that seemed to come from somewhere above them, and all three of them looked up. Something seemed to be falling towards them, until a golden-furred vixen about Tails and Twilight's age landed right in front of them. She seemed to have three tails, and wore a pair of denim shorts, a white t-shirt, and a red focus band on her forehead. She had a full-sized keyboard strapped to her back, along with a sheath with a long bo staff in it, and she had a huge pink duffel bag

"Whoa, where'd SHE come from?!" Twilight said, surprised. As they watched, the vixen started to stir, slowly coming to.

"It looks like she's waking up!" Tails said, kneeling next to her. "Hey, are you all…" her fist suddenly shot up in a devastating uppercut that sent Tails flying straight up into the air!

"TAILS!" Cream cried, horrified.

"Yeah, take that!" the vixen said as she got up. "You'll never take me ali…Huh? What happened?" She asked, looking around confused as she opened her eyes.

"Uh…Excuse me, miss, but I think you just sent my boyfriend flying!" Cream told her, a little nervously.

"I what?" the vixen asked, confused.

"Yeah, he should be halfway to the stratosphere right now!" Twilight said, snorting.

"It's not funny!" Cream told her angrily, turning.

"I know, it's just…" Twilight stopped before she lost control, trying hard not to laugh.

"Oh man, I'm SO sorry, I thought he was…Wait, he's coming down!" the vixen said, before jumping high into the air about fifty feet to catch Tails before coming down and landing gently on the ground. "Sorry about that, I thought you were someone else!" she said, putting him down. "Anyway, my name's Kaylee!" she introduced herself.

"Well, I'm Miles, but everyone calls me Tails…But MAN, you really pack a punch!" Tails said, rubbing his jaw.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm REALLY strong!" Kaylee said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well, I guess it's okay if you didn't mean to hurt Tails…My name is Cream, and this is Cheese!" Cream introduced herself.

"Chao chao!" Cheese said, acknowledging his introduction.

"I'm Twilight!" Twilight said quickly before covering her mouth, still trying not to laugh at what had just happened to Tails.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all!" Kaylee said cheerfully.

"What was that explosion?" Tails asked, curious.

"Oh, that was a ship built by some loser who seems to be after every Mobian he can find for some reason! I just took it out, and, well, here I am!" Kaylee replied, grinning.

"I see…Well, do you live somewhere around here? Your parents must be worried!" Tails said. Kaylee's smile suddenly faded as he said that, looking down at her feet.

"Oh…I see!" Tails replied, knowing exactly what she meant. "Me and Twilight are in the same boat!"

"Well, why don't you come with us?" Twilight asked, finally getting herself under control. "Tails always has plenty of room back at his workshop, and we wouldn't mind a little extra company!" she offered, and Kaylee looked up and smiled. "Thanks, that would be great!" she replied.

Well, what do you think? Be sure to review so I can know how you like the story so far!


	6. The Alliance

Hey, sorry I took so long, but I was considering re-writing the first story of the series...AGAIN...When finally, after much debate (with myself), I've decided to pick it up again and make a few changes from my original plot! Hope you like!

Chapter Six: The Alliance

**A few days later...**

"An enhancement-class mage, huh?" Vincent asked himself as he read the profile of Kaylee, who'd recently escaped his transport ship. Unfortunately, Kaylee had led him directly to Tails and Twilight! "Quite a powerful one too, to be able to increase her strength and jumping ability permanently like that! And now that I know where Tails and Twilight are, I can get information on their friends, and more importantly, their enemies!" he brought up the related files and looked down them until he found their only enemy who was still currently active. "Dr. Ivo Robotnik, eh? Well, well, well, perhaps I should pay the good doctor a little visit?"

**Later, in Eggman's Lair...**

Eggman wasn't in a very good mood at all, Sonic having defeated him yet again. His mood wasn't improved any by the attempts that two certain robots made to make me feel better.

"Not to worry, your roundness!" the scratchy, annoying voice of a certain chicken told him. It was none other than Scratch, one of his earliest creations. "Once your next plan falls into place, the Eggman Empire shall finally prevail!"

"Uh...Yeah, what he said!" another voice put in. It belonged to none other than ol' drill-nose himself, Grounder. "I'm sure it won't turn out like Chaos...Or the Eclipse Cannon...Or..."

"Enough, you two, shut up before I send both of you nincombots to the scrap heap!" Eggman shouted, and Scratch and Grounder quited down, getting out of my way as he sat down in his control chair. He leaned back and shut his eyes, rubbing his index fingers over his eye-lids. "What do I have to do to RID myself of that accursed hedgehog?!" he moaned.

"I could help with that!" Eggman sat up, startled as he looked for the source of the voice before noticing Vincent. "Who are you? How'd you get in here?!" Eggman demanded.

"I merely payed you a visit to lay a proposition on you!" Vincent replied. "It's very simple, help me, and I'll give you the power to destroy Sonic once and for all, and then once I rid this world of those accursed Mobians, this pathetic planet will be yours to conquer! People will bow before the glory of the Eggman Empire!"

"Hmm...How do I know you can GIVE me this sort of power?" Eggman asked skeptically.

"I'm glad you asked!" Vincent said, and a silvery energy glowed around his hand and several large machines as the suddenly started to disassemble, reassembling into something completely different and much more devastating. Eggman stood up, taking in the huge machine before him with Scratch, who was also in awe.

"Oooh, shiny!" Grounder said, starting to roll towards it, but Scratch and Eggman almost involuntarily raised a hand, stopping him.

"I also might be able to upgrade those imbeciles of yours!" Vincent replied.

"Hey, who're you calling an imbecile?!" Scratch yelled at him.

"Yeah, who're you calling an...Uh, what was that word again?" Grounder asked, and Scratch slapped himself in the face at the idiocy of his "brother". Eggman, however, was still staring up at the new creation before him. He didn't know anything about Vincent, but he knew that he HAD to have his assistance! "W-What do you want?" he asked him. "I'll do ANYTHING, just tell me what it is!"

"Well, there's a girl I want, a girl a certain two-tailed nemesis of yours met a few weeks ago..."

**Later still, in the Mystic Ruins...**

Tails and Amy were at his workshop, discussing the plans for a welcoming party for Twilight and Kaylee to introduce them to the rest of their friends (and also because Amy still felt she had to make up for what she did to Twilight). Kaylee and Twilight were out in the field on the cliff overlooking the waterfall. Kaylee was wearing a pink beret with an easel, a canvas, a pallet, and a paintbrush, and Twilight posed for her while she painted her portrait.

"Surrender, furballs!" Both of them turned suddenly, finding Scratch and Grounder standing there. "You have no chance against our might!" Scratch continued.

"Yeah, prepare to meet your groom!" Grounder replied, and Scratch whacked him over the head. "It's DOOM, you moron, **DOOM!!**" Kaylee and Twilight just stood there, dumbstruck.

"Uh, I'm going to go get Tails!" Twilight finally said, running off towards the workshop. She returned a few minutes later with Tails following close behind her. "Twilight what's this all abou...Scratch and Grounder?!" Tails stared as he saw the two robots. "Eggman has GOT to be kidding!"

"Hahahahaha, that's where you're wrong, fox-boy, because the old Scratch and Grounder are no more! We're now the Colossal Super Buster Brothers!" Scratch told him, and he sweatdropped. "Observe! Scratch Boom Blast!" he raised his hand, firing a white blast at the ground that exploded in a large flash.

"Whoa!" Tails quickly jumped out of the way as he pulled out his bow and readied an arrow in it. _Since when can Scratch do THAT?!_ he wondered as he let his arrow fly, but Grounder suddenly intervened. "Grounder Shield!" he produced a force field from one of his drills, protecting both of them as the arrow exploded.

"Ahahahahahaha, there's no way you can stop us now, Tails!" Scratch cackled. "Now, if you excuse us, we'll be taking Twilight and be on our..." he was cut off as Kaylee suddenly grabbed his legs. "Batter up!" she said before using him as a baseball bat and smacking Grounder clear across the field. "And now, representing the U.S.A. in the javelin throw, it's Kaylee Williams!" she cried before stepping forward and hurling Scratch like a javelin, where his head got stuck in the ground near Grounder.

"Nice one, Kaylee!" Twilight said, flashing her a thumbs-up.

"Grrr...You haven't seen the last of us!" Scratch said as he collected his now-offline brother and flew away with jets attached to his feet.

"Okay, this just keeps on getting weirder and weirder, first the strange robots, then Twilight, then Kaylee fell from the sky, and now THIS!" Tails said. "We'd better be a little more careful from now on, I'm not sure I like where all these developments are leading!" he said, and Kaylee and Twilight nodded in silent agreement.

And the plot thickens, now Vincent is after Tails and his friends as well with the help of Eggman! Will they succeed? Your reviews could stop another month-long update, so please, think of the poor reviews!


	7. Crimson

I thought I'd take a break from Tails and Twilight's side of this story to introduce another new character and her rivalry with Shadow! Enjoy!

Chapter Seven: Crimson

Shadow was on the roof of his house up in the mountains around Mystic Ruins. Over the years, he'd finally achieved inner peace after discovering his true past and had decided to move to this area. It was peaceful here, a tranquil environment perfect for meditation. It was here that he further developed his control of chaos, now having a high mastery of it, giving him a fierce edge in battle. He no longer used firearms, having no need for them with his new chaos powers, and though he was still very much a loner, he'd also gotten a lot more sociable in the past years. He now wore a pair of jeans and a red hoodie with white stripes down the front and back of his sleeves, with small slits in the back for his quills to comfortably fit through.

He lay on his back on the roof, his hands behind his head as he gazed up at the clouds. He was thinking about Twilight's sudden appearance and the measures Vincent was taking to capture her, having observed everything that had happened while remaining hidden (He preferred to work like that, being ready in case his power was needed). As he looked upward, something in the sky suddenly passed his vision, quickly flying up overhead.

"What was that?" he asked himself, jumping off the roof. He activated his hover shoes and skated off through the forest to investigate. He soon came upon a female hedgehog in her early twenties with dark red fur, long, bat-like wings, and long black hair with red highlights. She wore a pair of jeans a lighter shade of red than her fur with a chain belt, and a black corset-style shirt with leather cords criss-crossing over her chest. A long six-foot scythe with a wicked-looking curved blade that was serragated at the bottom was also in a sheath on her back. She didn't notice him, so he crept closer as she pulled out a photo from her pocket. Shadow quietly climbed up a nearby tree to get a better look, and was surprised to see it was a photo of Twilight that had been taken when she'd gone along on Tails and Cream's date.

"All right, she should be somewhere around here...Maybe then I can finish this whole damned..."

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow suddenly nailed her in the back, causing her to fall on her face as it hit her. "You know," Shadow said as he jumped down from the tree and she got up again. "It's starting to get old with everyone trying to get that girl! What's so special about her anyway, I think I'm missing something here!"

"And who are YOU to interfere?" the hedgehog hissed as she whirled around to face him as she drew her scythe.

"My name is Shadow," Shadow replied, getting into a fighting position. "And I'm not to be taken lightly!"

"I'm Crimson," the hedgehog replied. "And you're going to regret even daring to meddle in my business!" she hissed.

"Let's see how well you fight, then!" Shadow replied as Crimson charged. She started slashing at him with her scythe, but couldn't seem to hit him as he could always slip under the curve of the blade untouched, and it was starting to frustrate her.

"Not bad, but now let's see how you maneuver!" Shadow said, activating his shoes and skating off through the forest at a rapid rate. Crimson growled and unfurled her wings, flying after him. She was quick, but Shadow clearly had the advantage in the forest, knowing the layout like the back of his hand. There was also the fact that Shadow could maneuver much more easily in his hover shoes, swerving through the trees, while Crimson was having a hard time keeping up as her wings kept getting hit by low-hanging branches, slowing her down considerably.

"Enough of this!" Crimson suddenly stopped, her scythe's blade glowing as she brought it back. "Crimson Wave!" she released a huge wave of glowing red energy, instantaneously cutting down the rest of the forest, but Shadow was nowhere to be found.

"I must admit," Crimson jumped, whirling around to find Shadow behind her. "That caught me by surprise! Guess I should take this up a notch!"

"Why you...!! Crimson Slash!" she sent a beam of red energy at him as she slashed her scythe, but Shadow stood his ground. "Chaos Control!" He instantly appeared behind her, and she whirled to slash at him again, but he used Chaos Control again, appearing behind her again. He kept doing this as she kept slashing at him, but she could never land a hit on him. Finally, Shadow put a hand to her forehead. "Chaos Impact!" He let out a short burst of chaos, knocking her back several feet.

"Enough of this!" she shouted as she got up. "I've got other things to do, but this isn't over!" with that, a crimson portal opened under her, and she sank through it and it vanished when she was through.

"I wouldn't want it any other way!" Shadow said as he walked off.

And so Shadow has a new rival in an exciting new sub-plot! And yes, I did kind of steal that impact idea from One Piece, but I decided to use it since I always thought that was a pretty cool attack! Anyway, review, or I shall find you, and when I do, I'll tie you to a chair and force you to play Sonic the Hedgehog 2006!


	8. What Happened After the Party

Hey, all! In this chapter, Vincent starts to get serious, and Tails realizes that he and his friends have to find a way to stop him before something even more terrible happens!

Chapter Eight: What Happened After the Party (Sorry, couldn't think of a better name for this chapter!)

A few days later, Tails and Amy were putting the final touches on the room the party would be in. Tails had built onto his workhouse as the years had gone by, so there was plenty of room there to have their party.

"Whoever's been after Twilight had better not ruin this party after everything we did to prepare for it, or he'll have me to deal with!" she declared. "When I meet whoever's after her, I'll pound him into the ground, I'll..." WHAM!! As she swung her hammer around, caught up in the moment, she accidentally hit Tails in the face when he was behind her, knocking him unconscious. "Uh...Oops?" Amy sweatdropped as she sheepishly turned around to see if Tails was all right.

"WHAT?!" Eggman was outraged as he watched Tails and Amy preparing for the party on the screen before him. "A PARTY?! After everything that's happened?! They've got some nerve, they don't seem to consider us a threat at all!"

"Hmm, yes, it seems they HAVE gotten a little comfortable..." Vincent replied from beside him. "But maybe we can use this to our advantage...Let them have their fun, for tonight, I'm going to show all of those insolent fools EXACTLY who they're dealing with!

Despite the fact that someone was apparently after Twilight (And the fact that Amy accidentally knocked Tails out), the party went off without a hitch. Everyone had a great time, especially Kaylee and Twilight. It was an especially great event for Twilight, who'd never been to a party before. The party went on pretty late, and at last, Tails finally decided that it was time for it to be over. As everyone departed, Cream gave Tails one last hug and then Cheese and her left and started walking home.

"That was fun, wasn't it, Cheese?"

"Chao chao!" Cheese agreed.

"Ms. Kaylee seems really nice...And Ms. Twilight sure seems friendlier! But we'd better get home soon, Mom might get worried about us!" she said, and they walked along through the dark night. Cream suddenly caught movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned, there was nothing. She shrugged and turned again, before suddenly realizing a tall figure was in front of her. "What..." that was all she could get out before she was struck hard over the head with something hard, knocking her unconscious.

"Uh...What happened?" Cream woke up a few hours later, a large bruise on her forehead. "Where am I?" she was lying on her back in some kind of dungeon, a blend of medieval and cybernetic elements. She tried to sit up, but suddenly found that she was stretched out on a medieval rack tight enough to prevent her from moving an inch.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake!" Vincent said as he strode into the room. "I thought I was going to have to torture you tomorrow! At least I had your little friend to play with while I waited!" he said, gesturing to a table behind him.

"CHEESE!!" Cream cried out, horrified. Her beloved Chao had multiple deep cuts and bruises all over his body, a knife sheathed in his stomach. "Who-Who are you?!" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

"There isn't much point in telling you that, seeing as you're not going to be here for much longer!" he turned a wheel on the side of the wooden slab, stretching her out a little farther and causing her to scream in pain. "Ah, I do love that sound...Especially coming from a pathetic Mobian like you!"

"W-Why? Why are you doing this to me?!" Cream cried, tears flowing down her face.

"Because, I want justice, I won't rest until each and every one of you filthy animals is wiped off the face of the planet! And you, my dear, are going to help accomplish it!" he said as Scratch and Grounder wheeled in a cart loaded with razor-sharp blade weapons and syringes filled with strange multi-colored liquids. "So, shall we begin?"

The next day, Tails went by Cream's house to see her, but as he got there, he noticed that she wasn't in the garden as she usually was. He thought that was strange, but didn't think too much of it as he went to knock on the door.

"C-Come in!" Vanilla called, her voice shaking. He went in, finding her on the couch with her head buried in a pillow, sobbing.

"Vanilla? What's wrong?" Tails asked, concerned as he walked over to her.

"It's...It's..." Vanilla looked up, only managing to get that out before she buried her face in the pillow once more, pointing...Up towards Cream's room.

"Cream?! Is she all right?" Tails asked, but Vanilla was too broken-up to answer. He hurried up to her room and burst through the door before he froze, shocked at what he saw. Cream and Cheese were lying on Cream's bed, their lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. He felt numb, and his mind locked as he took the sight in before he finally fell to his knees, falling to his hands and tears welling in his eyes. He clenched his eyes shut, and his hands balled into fists before he raised them above his head and screamed his frustration into the air.

Later, it turned out that Vincent had also left a video introducing himself and showing every detail of his brutal murder of Cheese, and then Cream. Tails was the only one who'd been able to watch the entire thing, unable to look away, unlike the others, who weren't quite as strong-stomached as he was. He didn't attend the funeral, not wanting to make what happened even harder on himself, but he couldn't shake the images from his mind, and all he could think about was Cream's tortured screams as she died.

A few days later, Tails was working on one of his inventions, just to keep himself busy. Twilight sat nearby, deep in thought. "Tails," she finally said. "Are you...Okay?" she asked carefully.

"Yeah," Tails said, not looking up. "I'm fine, now that I've blown off a little steam!"

"Are you sure? Because, if there's anything I can..."

"Twilight, I'm FINE, really!" Tails said, continuing to work. Twilight was silent for a little while after that. "I don't get it!" Twilight said after a while. "Cream meant so MUCH to you, and a few days ago, you were ready to kill someone, but now, it's like nothing happened! So, what's the deal?" She asked. Tails sighed and put down the wrench he was using as he lowered his head. "Yes, she DID mean a lot to me, she meant everything to me...Which is exactly why Vincent killed her!" he explained, while Twilight was a little confused. "You see, part of being a warrior is not to let fear or anger overcome you...They can make you a fierce fighter, but most of the time, they'll be your downfall! A true warrior has to be the master of their emotions, they can't let anything cloud their mind and make them lose their concentration! Besides, it's like Sonic always tells me, the past doesn't matter, what matters is the here and now!

"Vincent knew that I'd be furious at him for killing her, and was planning to use my own rage against me to take me down...I don't know why, but he sees me as the main threat that he has to conquer, I think he feels that he can't succeed while I stand in his way...Well, it didn't work, and I'm not planning on giving up against Vincent anytime soon!"

Well, whaddaya think? If I went a little over-the-top with Cream and Cheese, be sure to let me know, because I don't want to lose any readers from something like that!


	9. Shadow and Crimson, Round Two

Things are really starting to heat up by now, including a fierce rematch against Shadow and Crimson!

Chapter Nine: Shadow and Crimson, Round Two

Shadow was lying on top of his house once more, deep in thought as he gazed at the clouds. He wondered what it all meant, why Twilight seemed to be so special to everyone. He also thought a lot about Crimson. Who was she? What did she want? She seemed so powerful, her movements were so graceful, her skin...He sat up quite suddenly. Why had he just been thinking about that? Could it be he was possibly...He quickly brushed the thought away as he lay down again, resting his head in his hands and closing his eyes...

"Crimson Flare!" Shadow's eyes shot open as he quickly backflipped off the roof as a large fireball landed on it and caused some flames to spread before dying down. Shadow quickly looked around the area.

"I'm up here, genius!" he quickly looked up to find Crimson herself hovering above him, beating her powerful wings to keep aloft. "I'm here to finish what I started, and unless you can get up here, I suggest..." she was cut off as Shadow suddenly surrounded himself with chaos and flew up, catching her by surprise with a fierce uppercut that sent her into a few stationary spins in mid-air.

"You were saying?" Shadow asked as he got into a fighting stance. Crimson drew her scythe. "Taking you down should be more satisfying than anyone I've defeated as of yet!" she snarled.

"Ooh, I'm so scared...Why don't you get over here and PROVE you can beat me?!" Shadow challenged.

"RAAAAAH!!" Crimson flew full speed at him, but he deftly dodged underneath her. "Chaos Orb!" he formed a sphere of chaos before hurling it at her back, causing a small explosion that sent her a few feet away.

"You and those fancy chaos powers of yours...Why don't we just cut the theatrics and go hand-to-hand to see who's REALLY better?!" Crimson challenged, putting away her scythe.

"Ladies first!" Shadow replied simply, and Crimson flew at him, punching at his face, but he merely backflipped, kicking her in the jaw as he did so. She tried a few more hits, but Shadow always dodged and counter-attacked every time. Then, Crimson suddenly formed a whispy, smoke-like energy around her fist, delivering a powerful punch which sent him several feet back.

"I thought we were done with moves like that!" Shadow commented.

"I changed my mind," Crimson replied. "You'll regret ever daring to fight an all-powerful necromancer! Soul Drive!" she propelled herself forward with the aid of her soul energy, punching him in the stomach hard enough that he actually coughed up a little blood. Crimson then drew her scythe and started slashing and kicking at him while it was all he could do to keep the chaos around him constant so that he remained in the air.

"Time to finish this!" Crimson declared as she kicked him down slightly before placing the scythe's blade along his back. "Crimson Blitz!" a massive jolt of crimson lightning engulfed, seeming to knock him unconscious as he fell back to the ground.

"Well, that takes care of that!" Crimson said as she landed, sheathing her scythe and starting to walk away.

"N-Not so fast!" Crimson froze as she heard the command, turning. "WHAT?!"

"T-This isn't o-over!" Shadow was amazingly getting shakily to his feet.

"B-But how..."

"It's time for you to blast off for a while!" Shadow declared as he started gathering the last of his chaos into a large orb in his hands. "CHAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSS..."

"Wait, wait, could we talk about this?!" Crimson said desperately, waving her hands uselessly.

"CANNON!" Shadow brought his palms together as he shot the chaos in a large beam that hit her dead-on.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Crimson screamed as the attack blasted her away, spiraling off into the distance. Shadow then looked down at his blazer; it was the worse for wear, torn and blood-stained beyond recognition. "Damn...I liked this blazer!" he said simply as he peeled off the shreds that remained of it and tossed them aside as he made his way back inside to clean and dress his wounds.

Looks like Crimson'll think twice before taking on Shadow! XD Anyway, review! Review, my brothas and sistas, review!


	10. Vincent's Victory

Unfortunately, in real life, villains ARE victorious once in a while...It's no different here, as Vincent has a small victory in this chapter...Read and be sure to review!

Chapter 10: Vincent's Victory and Crimson's True Nature

"I've got you now, Tails!" Twilight taunted, parrying Tails' blow.

"Guess again, Twilight, I've got the edge this time!" Tails replied, fighting back. Tails had decided to give Twilight more confidence in battle, to master her emotions like he had and not be scared or angry during a fight; and so, the two had been going at it for a good part of the day, trying to best each other with a pair of wooden swords. Of course, Twilight had been a bit apprehensive at first, and a bit timid, but she soon forgot about her own fear in the thrill of the action and actually started to have fun.

If, by chance, one of them happened to look up, they might see Shadow, who seemed to be hovering in the air some distance above the scene wearing a black hoodie with his symbol on the front (The design from the Shadow the Hedgehog logo). "Tails...I hope you know what you're doing, I don't want to see you or anyone else hurt!" He said softly to himself.

"Cyber Spear!" someone suddenly shot a spear of silver energy between Tails and Twilight, causing a small explosion that blasted them both back a couple feet in opposite directions. "Why do I even bother with the robots, why don't I just do this all the time?!" Vincent seemed to be talking to himself as he strode towards the two. "After all, everyone knows that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself!"

"Okay then, let's see you do something, then, Vincent!" Tails replied as he tossed his wooden sword aside and took out his bow.

"Tails, wait!" Twilight pleaded, but Tails had already shot an exploding arrow at Vincent, who nearly backhanded it into the air behind him, where it exploded.

"Really now, do you actually think you can get past my defense?" Vincent asked him.

"Let's see if I can!" Tails replied, rushing at him. Vincent merely smirked and crossed his arms. Tails soon reached him and hit him in the side of the head with a powerful roundhouse, but Vincent didn't even budge.

"Is that all you've got?" Vincent asked. Tails continued attacking him with a barrage of punches and kicks, but none of them seemed to have any effect on him. Finally, Vincent simply caught Tails' ankle as he tried another roundhouse, using his own momentum to toss him hard into a tree.

"VIIIIIIIINNNCCCEEEEEEEEENNNNNTTT!!" Kaylee suddenly came running out of nowhere, jumping at least twenty feet in the air and performing a series of frontal flips before slamming her bo staff down on Vincent's head with tremendous strength, but Vincent still was unaffected as he grabbed the weapon and flung her off of it, throwing it so that it went spinning through the air and beaned her with enough force that her forehead started to bleed a little.

"Well, this has been an amusing little outing, but now I think it's time I take Twilight and..."

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow suddenly launched a chaos spear at Vincent, blasting him back a few feet as he landed in front of him.

"You know, that one actually hurt a little!" Vincent said as he got to his feet. "Looks like I should start trying!" Vincent then surrounded himself with his silver cyber energy while Shadow surrounded himself with chaos as they both rose in the air.

"Chaos Dive!" Shadow increased the chaos around himself as he flew straight towards Vincent like a shooting star.

"Cyber Flash!" Vincent suddenly disappeared in a flash of cyber energy as he reappeared behind Shadow, planting a kick on his back. "Inferno Whip!" Vincent then created a stream of fire, lashing out at Shadow with it.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow disappeared in a flash of chaos, appearing in front of Vincent and nailing him in the jaw with a chaos-reinforced rising palm to snap his head up before placing his palm on his chest. "Chaos Impact!" the attack blasted Vincent back several feet, but he flew straight towards him again. "Static Storm!" Vincent punched him with a surge of concentrated electricity, giving him a more powerful jolt than Crimson had given him.

"All right, this has gone on long enough!" Shadow said as he started forming an orb of chaos. "CHAAAOOOOOSSSS..."

"Cyber Apocalypse!" Vincent suddenly shot a huge amount of cyber energy at him, causing his chaos to disrupt and cause even more damage as Shadow was completely enveloped in the energy as he fell to the ground, defeated.

"That chaos seems to be a powerful weapon!" Vincent said as he landed next to Shadow. "Hope you don't mind if I take it! Transcending Palm!" he thrust his palm at his chest, causing it to actually phase into his body. His arm then started glowing green as the chaos was transferred to him from Shadow before he then pulled his palm out. "Whoa, what a rush, this power! Now, where was I?" he asked as he turned back to Twilight, who was rather scared.

"Crimson Barrage!" Vincent turned and created a shield from the chaos he'd just taken from Shadow to block the crimson waves that were just fired at him. "Ah, Crimson, I thought he'd use your help!" Vincent replied simply. "Well, if you're here, then I guess he isn't too far behind, so I think I'll take my leave now! Chaos Control!" with that, Vincent was gone in a flash of chaos. Crimson landed and sheathed her scythe before she walked up behind Shadow and glared down at his upside-down face. "You are SUCH an idiot, you know that?" she asked him.

"What? What did **I** do?!" Shadow demanded.

"You interfered with my duty, that's what! And because of it, you just made Vincent even more powerful, and he would've taken Twilight if I hadn't shown up to stop him!" Crimson yelled at him.

"Wait, you wanted to PROTECT Twilight?!" Shadow asked as he got to his feet. "But...You're a necromancer, I thought..."

"You thought, you thought, that's all I hear about whenever I decide to do a job in my necromancer form!" Crimson replied irritably. "But sure, no one EVER thinks the necromancer's the good guy, not even when I look like this!" Crimson's wings suddenly changed into long red angel wings with at least twice the wingspan as her demonic wings as her scythe turned into a magnificent longsword with a hilt and crossguards in the form of a shining golden cross.

"You're...You're a holy warrior?!" Shadow said in disbelief.

"Well, seems like someone's finally learning!" Crimson said irritably as her wings changed back and her sword changed back to a scythe. "I just usually use this form because these wings are easier to manage, and my scythe gives me a little more range! Not only that, but you could've doomed this entire planet by interfering with the safety of one who would be one of this universe's most powerful mages!" Tails and Kaylee then looked at Twilight in confusion as she was just as confused as they were. Majesco suddenly appeared near them, further adding to the confusion. "Crimson, what..."

"That moron nearly doomed us all, THAT'S what!" Crimson said accusingly, pointing at Shadow before storming off. Shadow looked to the others for help, but they all, including Majesco, just shrugged. Shadow sighed and went off after Crimson.

And so it turns out Crimson was actually a good guy...Man, I bet Shadow feels pretty stupid about now! Anyway, review!


	11. Tails' Victorious Defeat

The climax is coming, the climax is coming! After this chapter, we're just four chapters away from the end of this exciting tale, including the final few battles with Vincent! So get ready, 'cause this story's going out with a bang!

Chapter Eleven: Tails' Victorious Defeat

Tails was walking through the jungle near the Mystic Ruins, not seeming to be headed anywhere in particular. He often went for extended walks through the jungle to think, just to gather his thoughts to work out a solution. Twilight, Vincent, and now Crimson and Majesco, not to mention what Crimson had said about Twilight...He was beginning to think he'd become involved in something much bigger than he, Sonic, or any of the others had ever been in. And he was certain that Twilight was the key to it all.

Majesco had told him a little about magic, how every living being had at least some degree of magic in their nature and how some people had magical attributes lying dormant until they could be awakened. He wondered if HE had an attribute; if he did, he might stand more of a chance against Vincent. In the meantime, he'd learned a few basic spells to give him a little more of an edge in combat, including a decent healing spell. He was still thinking when he was suddenly ambushed, several laser blasts barely missing him as he dove into a line of trees for cover.

"You bolt-brain! You missed him!" Tails came out from behind the trees, finding Scratch and Grounder, arguing as usual.

"Hey, YOU try to hit something that quick!" Grounder shot back.

"Okay, then I WILL! Atomic Egg Bomb!" Tails jumped and sprang off a tree trunk out of the way as Scratch threw a glowing orb at where he'd just been standing, discharging into a small nuclear blast that killed all of the plantlife around it.

"If you morons think you're getting the best of me, then you've got another thing coming!" Tails said as he ran around them, firing exploding arrows, but they somehow managed to block and evade all of them. As he stopped to catch his breath and the smokescreen caused by the arrows cleared, he suddenly realised something. "Hey, where's...OOOOF!!" he was cut off as Scratch suddenly rammed into him from behind with surprising strength, slamming him into a tree and knocking the wind out of him as he slumped to the ground. Scratch then blasted him into the air with a powerful blast, as Grounder rushed at him as he landed, using his drills to slash some deep gashes on him before he shoved him away and ran, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

"After him!" Scratch cried as they ran after him, following his trail of blood. Tails thought of his healing spell, but realised he wouldn't have enough time to cast it before they were on him. He couldn't believe it, they were beating him when before they'd just been a pair of squabbling brothers...

_That's IT!! _he thought as he pretended to trip and fell. "Okay, okay, you've got me!" he said defensively as Scratch and Grounder caught up.

"Ha ha, nobody can stand up to the awesome power of the Super Colossal Buster Bros!" Scratch said triumphantly.

"Yeah, I'd say you two are in for a big promotion!" Tails replied. "It's just too bad only one of you can actually accept credit for the actual capture!"

"Ha ha...Uh, what?" Grounder stopped laughing abruptly.

"Think about it; there's only one of me, but two of you!" Tails replied slyly, starting to feel relieved. His trick was working! "So logically, the one who carries me in will get the credit!"

"Hey...You're right!" Scratch said as he turned and glared at Grounder.

"Wait, what're you..." Grounder didn't have a chance to finish his sentence before Scratch grabbed him and threw him across the clearing. "There's no way you're taking credit for MY capture!" he screamed, running after him. As the two fought, Tails quickly healed himself before taking out a special arrow. "Meteor Arrow!" He cried as he launched a large arrow that ignited into a large ball of scorching flames, hitting them dead-on and destroying them. All that was left were their heads, which were still online for some reason.

"Well, this is just great, this is all YOUR fault!" Scratch's head shouted as he banged his head against Grounder's.

"Ouch! Hey, YOU'RE the one who attacked me!" Grounder's head cried hitting him back. Tails grinned turning to leave, but he was still in a pretty bad condition as he'd already lost a lot of blood. He staggered weakly a few steps, his vision blurring, before he finally collapsing unconscious. Vincent then stepped out from behind a tree, absently waving his hand to quickly reassemble Scratch and Grounder with his cyber energy.

"Stop arguing, you both did exactly what I expected you to do!" he told them before grabbing Tails' tails and swinging him over his shoulder by them. "I may not be able to stealthily get to Twilight with so many people protecting her, but it should be a few hours before they notice Tails missing, so he'll have to do...And with him in my possession, Twilight will be mine soon enough!"

"Emergency!" Kaylee burst into the kitchen of Sonic and Amy's apartment, startling them both and causing Sonic to drop his plate so that it shattered against the tile.  
"Kaylee, what the he..."

"There's no time to explain, in the living room, hurry!" Kaylee shouted breathlessly before rushing out with a confused Sonic and Amy following. Twilight and Shadow were in the living room, looking just as confused as Kaylee quickly put a tape into the VCR. Vincent's face appeared, looking into the camera.

"I've grown quite tired of all your attempts to thwart me, and quite frankly, I'm getting rather sick of it!" he said. "I've killed one of your friends by now, and I'm not opposed to killing another!" with that, he stepped out of the way as the camera zoomed in on something in the room above him.

"Oh my god!" Amy gasped when she saw what it was.

"TAILS?!" Sonic said in disbelief. Indeed, it was Tails hanging from the ceiling from a rope tying his arms to his sides with his tails and ankles securely tied together. He had many fresh wounds and bruises and was turning visibly pale under his fur as his blood trickled slowly down his fur and dripped off of his feet, hands, and the tips of his tails. He was barely conscious as he struggled weakly against his bonds, but it was obviously no use.

"Now, I'll make myself perfectly clear; I have every intention of releasing him if you deliver Twilight to me within twenty-four hours, or he's going to suffer a lot more than even that pathetic rabbit did before he dies! I'll keep him alive until then, but give me the girl or else!"

"This is not good!" Majesco said as he watched the video with Crimson standing beside him.

"Yeah, I have no idea what to...WAA!!" Sonic jumped back as he suddenly realized they were beside him. "Where did you two come from?!"

"It'd be too risky to attempt a rescue," Majesco said, ignoring Sonic. "In the state he's currently in, Vincent could easily kill him long before we can do anything!"

"Hmm...Maybe if we..." as the others were discussing how to solve the situation without turning in Twilight, Twilight herself was staring at the image of the half-dead fox on the screen in shock. Cream had already been killed, and now her savior was dangling helplessly at the mercy of the very man who he'd saved her from...And it was all her fault! All of this had started just because of her! She could hardly believe she'd already done so much damage since she had started trusting Tails, and knew that she was the only one who could do anything...

"No, no, that'll only...Wait, where's Twilight?" Amy suddenly asked, looking around, but the vixen was nowhere to be found.

"CRAP!! This is definitely not good!" Majesco said as he realized what she must have gone to do.

Tears welled in Twilight's eyes as she slowly approached Vincent's part of Eggman's pyramid base, having flown through the desert in the Tornado 2.

"Well, well, I didn't really expect for my ransom to turn itself in!" Vincent remarked as she entered the room Tails was in with Vincent waiting for her. "I expect you'll surrender without confrontation?"

"Y-Yes!" Twilight replied, her voice shaking as Scratch and Grounder came and handcuffed her. "J-Just l-let Tails go, p-please don't h-hurt him anymore!"

"Hooray, we won!" Grounder cheered.

"Yeah, now that we have both of those morons at our disposal, we can..." Scratch was cut off as Vincent suddenly burned the part of the rope attached to the ceiling, dropping Tails to the ground where he managed to weakly squirm out of the rest of the rope.

"There's a teleportation chamber down the hall in the room to the left, I've already set the coordinates to your friend's apartment!" Vincent called down to him as he weakly got to his feet and made his way out of the room, though he could barely stand.

"What? You're letting him GO?!" Scratch screeched as Tails left the room. "What the hell are you..."

"I may be an evil mastermind, but if anything, I'm not dishonest!" Vincent replied. "I said I intended to release him if Twilight was delivered, so I did! Besides, now we have all we need!" Twilight looked back at Tails as he left, finally looking away and closing her eyes. "I'm sorry, Tails!" she whispered as tears leaked from her closed eyes.

Tails made it to the teleportation chamber and was transported outside Tails and Amy's apartment, where he managed to knock before starting to collapse again.

"TAILS?!" Amy caught him before he hit the ground as she answered the door, being home alone since the others had gone in an attempt to intercept Twilight before she turned herself in.

"H-Hi, Amy!" he said weakly. "I guess we're really deep in it this time, huh?"

"Shh, don't talk, you need your strength!" Amy told him authoritively as she quickly carried him into the bathroom. She cleaned his wounds with a washcloth soaked in hot water with him wincing now and then before carefully bandaging him up and carrying him into the guest bedroom, tucking him into the bed.

"Now, you need rest, so be sure to get it!" she told him before leaving the room, but Tails had already taken this advice, having slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep before she'd finished giving the command.

Poor Tails...Well, it looks like things are going to get even more complicated now that Vincent's actually achieved one of his goals! What do YOU think? Review!


	12. The Invasion

Sorry I didn't update for a while…Anyway, in this chapter, Vincent launches his official attack against the world

Sorry I didn't update for a while…Anyway, in this chapter, Vincent launches his official attack against the world! Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve: The Invasion

Vincent frowned as he stood before a large glass tube in the room he was in. He and Eggman were both inside the Space Station Ark, having adapted it for their own needs. Inside the tube was Twilight's unconscious form, floating in some green liquid. Multiple electrodes and sensors attached to various parts of her body, sending data to a readout on a computer at its base. A mask was over her muzzle so she could breathe; it wouldn't do for her to drown before he took her power!

It was the readout that Vincent was frowning at, not seeming to be getting any results. "Where is it?!" He demanded, typing several commands but still coming up with nothing. "What use is it if I capture her, but can't even locate her power?!"

"Who says you need to right now?" Eggman asked him.

"What do you mean?" Vincent asked suspiciously, looking at him.

"I mean, now that you finally have her and not even that wizard would dare try to save her, what's standing in your way? You could launch an attack right now and overtake the city and then the world!"

"Yes…Yes, that's a brilliant idea!" Vincent replied, grinning. "This pathetic planet's technology is nowhere near as good as mine, and I can always conquer the rest of the universe with her power later! Get ready, we're going to need a lot of robots!" he said, going off.

"Robots?" Eggman asked. "But won't they make quick work of them?"

"Exactly!" Vincent replied. "While those pathetic heroes are finishing them off, I'll finish things up here before putting my final plan into motion!" he explained. He laughed evilly. "Get ready Tails, for this is the last stand for you and your friends!"

"Hey Tails, what's up?" Sonic asked as he walked into Tails' workshop. He'd been fully recovered for a few days, and had been busy working on something that he said was sure to defeat Vincent. "You said you had something to tell me?"

"Yep!" Tails replied, bringing up a file on his laptop. "When I left Vincent's base, I didn't leave empty-handed; I slapped a wireless uplink to one of his computers! And I found something rather interesting!" he said, showing him the file. Sonic speed-read through the file, his eyes widening.

"This is…"

"All Vincent's powers, all about how they work!" Tails finished for him, grinning. "Even how he steals the power of others and how physical attacks don't affect him! Now that we know our opponent, we can defeat him!" he concluded.

"Wow, that's AWESOME!!" Sonic said, looking at the file in awe. That's when he remembered Tails had something else he said he'd wanted to show him. "Hey, what else did you want to see me about?" he asked.

"Thought you'd never ask!" Tails said, stepping outside. Sonic followed confused. He out an arrow, slipping it into the improved bow he'd built to replace the one Vincent had taken. The arrow shot out lightning quick before Tails shot off after it, quickly grabbing it and returning in front of Sonic in a matter of seconds! "I really AM as fast as you now!" he said, grinning.

A few days later, Tails was finishing up one of his latest inventions to keep his mind off things while Kaylee watched. He was building a long cybernetic sword to give him more of an edge in close combat.

"There!" Tails closed up the last panel, picking it up and giving a few slashes to test it. "That should help when I break through Vincent's defense! It'll probably help even more with what I've got in store for Vincent later on in the fight, too!"

"What do you mean?" Kaylee asked, confused.

"You'll see…" he replied. Sonic suddenly ran in just then, seeming concerned. "Tails, Vincent's attacking Station Square with his cybernetic army!" he quickly explained.

"Right on time! C'mon, Kaylee, let's go give Vincent a beatdown he'll never forget!" Tails said confidently.

"Take this!" Shadow bounced off of several more robots with a homing attack, taking out even more robots with the shrapnel from the ones he defeated. "I'd like to see YOU try and do this Sonic!" he joked, making a crack at Sonic's ruined quills.

"Oh, ha ha ha, Shadow, you're hilarious!" Sonic said as he slashed several robots in half with his sword. Everyone was giving it their all; Kaylee with her strength and jumping ability, Tails with his sword, speed, and arrows, Majesco with his magic, and Crimson with her scythe and necromancy.

"Well, well, well, this is turning out to be quite the matchup, isn't it?" Vincent asked as he and Eggman entered the scene. Eggman was in his Egg Pod with Vincent floating next to him with the aid of his cyber energy. "Well, let's see how you like THIS!!" suddenly, a huge flash of cyber energy lit up in front of them, revealing a huge robot at least seventy feet high!

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Kaylee replied, jumping up towards its head while Tails shot an arrow, Majesco shot a spell, and Crimson flew towards the head for a scythe slash. All three attacks hit at the same time, but it didn't destroy the head; instead, it let off a huge amount of energy, knocking every single one of the heroes back.

"Aaagh!" Sonic cried out before he got to his feet again. "How can we defeat this thing?!"

"Hmm…Recently, I've developed a prototype arrow that uses one's magical energies to increase the attack power!" Tails replied, suddenly remembering it. "I don't know if it'll work, but I can only get one shot at this, so I need you guys to distract it while I'm charging it!"

"All right, we'll do our best!" Sonic replied, running off to distract it. It soon started fighting the others, his friends narrowly missing getting hit while Tails drew back the arrow. Small beads of light started streaming from Tails, gathering at the tip to make an orb that became larger and larger.

"No, you'll never defeat my creation! Cyber Spear!" Vincent launched several cyber spears at Tails, but it was too late; Tails shot the arrow before being knocked back by the attack, hitting it in the head dead-on. It's head exploded, and the rest of the body started to short circuit.

"Uh oh…HIT THE DECK!!" the others raced back and dove for the ground as the entire thing exploded. Vincent quickly protected himself with a cyber shield as he and Eggman got caught in the explosion; unfortunately, Eggman wasn't so lucky!

"One down!" Sonic said as he, Tails, and Shadow got up. Crimson suddenly flew right into Vincent, kicking him to the ground as her scythe started to glow. "And now, to take back the powers you stole! Transcending Scythe!" She hacked away quickly at Vincent, her blade phasing through him and taking another power with each slash until he was only left with his normal cyber and dark powers.

"He's all yours, boys!" Crimson said as she flew off and Sonic, Shadow, and Tails all rushed at him at once.

"Warp of Darkness!" a swirling dark warp suddenly surrounded Vincent, and as the three heroes met him, all four of them disappeared in a flash of darkness.

Whoa, things are getting pretty intense, wouldn't you say? Anyway, review!


	13. Vincent Steps Things Up

Tails finally manages to break through Vincent's superior defense, but will it be enough to stop him

Tails finally manages to break through Vincent's superior defense, but will it be enough to stop him?

Chapter Thirteen: Vincent Steps It Up

"WHOAAA!!" Sonic, Shadow and Tails landed on the ground as they were suddenly teleported somewhere else as they dove for Vincent.

"Where the heck did he send us?" Sonic asked, looking around. It appeared that they were now on a shadowy platform in a void of pure darkness.

"I don't know but Vincent could be…Twilight!" Tails suddenly exclaimed, looking up. Indeed, Twilight's unconscious form was there with them, suspended in mid-air by Vincent's cybernetic energy. She stirred as he called up to her, slowly opening her eyes. "Tails?" she asked weakly, looking down at him.

"Hold on, I'll get you…" Tails never finished his sentence as Vincent suddenly appeared in a flash of silver light behind him before grabbing his tails and hurling him across the platform, almost causing him to fall off into the abyss.

"How do you like my arena?" Vincent asked, standing on the other end of the platform on the edge.

"Where are we?" Shadow asked him.

"You're in MY territory now, I've taken you to the Dark Abyss, where nightmares roam and darkness reigns supreme!" Vincent replied. "One wrong step and you'll fall in, forever trapped in a world of your own fears and nightmares! And seeing as you hardly have anything in your power to use against me, then it looks like it's the nightmare hour!"

_It's time…_ Tails thought as he winked at Sonic and Shadow and they both nodded. They both ran at Vincent, but of course their attacks proved ineffective as he knocked them back with ease. Then it was Tails' turn as he rushed at him with his sword.

"Oh, so you're trying the sword now? Please, what do you possibly hope to…" he was cut off as Tails slashed him and the cyber energy around his body was shattered, leaving him wide open for him to knock him into the air and then to jump up and slam him back down to the platform with a kick to his stomach.

"WHAT?!" Vincent exclaimed, shocked that he'd managed to break his defense. "But…How…?"

"I'm smarter than you think, Vincent!" Tails replied. "Did you really think I'd just leave your base without thinking of a way to get to you? I hacked your system and figured out your powers…Especially your defense!

"The five seals," he continued. "An ingenious technique that allows you to constantly defend yourself with your energy…Unless, of course, you know how to get past it! When Sonic and Shadow rushed at you, what they actually did when they attacked you was to disable four of the five hidden focal points in the energy shield. After that, all I had to do was to nail the last one, rendering it useless!"

"You little…I can always…"

"You can always what?" Tails retorted, not calling his bluff. "It takes around two hours to create another five seals!" Vincent glared at him before he laughed. "Well, well, this is turning out to be quite the challenge!" he remarked. "No one's given me THIS good of a fight in years! Looks like I'll have to step things up a little!" he said as he drew a long sword from a sheath sewn into the inside of his trench coat. It had a long black blade with menacing jagged saw teeth on one edge of the blade. "Cyber Flash!" he disappeared in a flash of cyber energy before appearing behind Sonic. Shadow, however, got to him first with a well-placed homing attack. As Vincent stumbled back from the attack, Sonic took the chance to land a kick on his back and send him sprawling. As Tails ran to attack him, he suddenly flipped up, catching him in the stomach with both feet and using them to launch him up into the air over the platform's edge as he rolled to his feet.

"Now then, let's…" Vincent was cut off as the end of Tails' scarf suddenly shot out, wrapping around his wrist before he was suddenly yanked to the side and swung over the edge as Tails swung back onto the platform on the other end. Tails then swung him over his head, slamming him back down on the platform.

"You're not the only one with a few tricks up their sleeves!" Tails told him as he pulled back his scarf. "I wove this scarf from a special super-elastic polymer fiber I invented; it doubles as a whip I can stretch to any length I want!"

"Well, aren't YOU the clever one?" Vincent snarled as he got up again. "Black Wave!" he quickly let out a dark crescent-shaped wave from his sword, knocking all three of them down. He used his Cyber Flash again, slashing at Sonic's back as he got up again. Sonic tried to slash back, but he disappeared again, knocking him off his feet and raising his sword to plunge it into his chest.

"Arrow Cataclysm!" Tails suddenly hit Vincent with three explosive arrows, sending him flying again. Vincent soon surrounded himself with cyber energy, using it to levitate above the platform. "Cyber Smash!" he flew straight down into the platform, shattering it into several different pieces. The three heroes got seperated on different parts of the new platforms it had created. "Shadow Meteor Storm!" he took control of the smaller pieces of the dark platform, forcing them to jump to different parts of the platform to avoid them. Sonic lost his balance as he turned to avoid a large part of the platform, and Shadow jumped after him before he suddenly realized he still didn't have his chaos powers and thus couldn't fly.

"Hold on!" Tails threw the end of his scarf to Shadow, who caught it as he held onto Sonic. Their combined weight nearly dragged him off the platform piece he was on until he took out an arrow and speared it onto the platform to support it. "I'm not strong enough to pull you both up, so just hang tight and I'll take care of Vincent!" he told them before flying off after Vincent.

"Hang tight? He's kidding, right?" Sonic remarked.

"Have a taste of your own medicine!" Vincent told Tails as he suddenly pulled out the Tails' old bow that he'd taken. He took control of it with his power, levitating it in the air as he quickly fired Tails' own exploding arrows at him. Tails dodged deftly through them, flying right up to Vincent and delivering a fierce punch to his face. It cracked his glasses as it knocked him back. Vincent put his finger to his face, wiping off some blood from his lip and looking at it before returning his attention to Tails. "Not bad, you throw quite the punch!" he remarked. "But let's see how you hold out against MY punch! Cyber Fist!" he delivered a powerful fistful of cyber energy to Tails, sending him looping back before he regained his balance in mid-air. "You think you can knock me out of the air that easily?" Tails asked.

"I can if I attack the right way!" Vincent replied before he suddenly appeared behind him through a Cyber Flash, slashing his tails right at the base to paralyze them. Tails aimed himself at a large part of the broken platform before he fell into the abyss as Vincent charged at him again. Tails tried to counter his sword, but Vincent suddenly used Cyber Flash, appearing behind him and slashing. He continued warping around him, delivering multiple slashes before he fell on his hands and knees in pain. He muttered his healing spell, sealing up his wounds before he lost too much blood, but he was still pretty weak.

"You're pathetic!" Vincent told him as he landed on the platform and stood over him. Twilight looked down at the scene in horror as Vincent rolled him over on his back with a foot before pinning him down under his foot. He rose his sword above Tails' chest, preparing to plunge the tip down into it. "I don't even understand why you went through all this trouble just to save her! It's not like I can extract her power now, so you couldn't have had that in mind when you retaliated as soon as you did! So why bother with her, for what possible reason did you risk all of this for?!"

"It's because…IT'S BECAUSE I LOVE HER!!" Tails suddenly screamed, surprising the others, including Vincent and Sonic, who was still hanging from Tails' scarf with Shadow. "I've loved her, ever since I got to know her!" Tails continued. "At first I ignored it; after all, I still had Cream before I met her…But after she died, I knew that she'd want me to move on…I realized that I should be her guardian, to protect her from harm's way so that she wouldn't face anymore suffering in her life," he said, tears forming in his eyes as he looked up towards Twilight. "I'm…I'm sorry, Twilight, I've failed you!" he called to her before he shut his eyes, waiting for the invitable.

"A touching speech," Vincent said, looking down at Tails. "Too bad it won't save you!" he said as he brought down the tip towards his chest.

"TAIIILSSSS!!" Twilight screamed as a a huge black and white flash suddenly emitted from her. Ribbons of black and white energy exploded into the air, looping and twisting around as the cyber energy seemed to be put under stress from the power.

"WHAT?!" Vincent stopped short with the tip of his sword an inch away from Tails' chest.

"What's happening?" Tails asked.

"It can't be, not yet!" Vincent yelled angrily. "Her power has emerged!"

Guess what? This is a cliffhanger!! Hahaha, you have to waiiiiiit!! JK, anyway, review and tell me how ya like it!


	14. Triple Threat

Here it is, the final battle chapter; three intense battles in one chapter, including Vincent's spectacular defeat in the grand

Here it is, the final battle chapter; three intense battles in one chapter, including Vincent's spectacular defeat in the grand finale! There'll be one more chapter after this showing the aftermath, but for now, enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen: Triple Threat

The ribbons of light and dark energy converged on their source, Twilight, wrapping her into a large cocoon, the white and black seeming to melt together to create a warm golden glow; the color of twilight!

At that moment, Majesco suddenly appeared next to Vincent and Tails, who were both staring up in awe at the sight. "I have a riddle for you two," he told them, grinning. "It is found in darkness, but born of light, on wings of demons and angels it takes flight. With shadows darkly brooding, and pure justice shining bright, this unlikely pairing shall win the fight!" he recited before pausing as he waited for them to answer.

"Twilight?" they both said at the same time.

"Exactly!" suddenly, a huge pure white angel wing burst from the cocoon of glowing light, followed by a bat-like demonic wing. Vincent's cyber energy dissipated and the energy from the cocoon exploded outward, revealing Twilight, fully healed and keeping aloft as she beat her powerful wings.

"I actually think I should thank you, Vincent!" she said as she grinned down at him. "If you hadn't tried to kill Tails, I would've never been able to unlock my powers in time! I may not know the full extent of them as you do for yours, but I think I can learn more than enough right now to take you on!"

"Ah, that reminds me," Majesco said as he waved a hand, causing two swords to appear in front of Twilight, hovering in the air. One of them was a dark sword with a black blade and crossguards like demonic wings, while the other was a light sword with a white blade and crossguards like golden angel wings. "These are yours; you'll probably need them!"

"Right!" she replied, grabbing their hilts and wielding them.

"You'll need more than just those to defeat ME!!" Vincent shouted angrily, more cyber energy surrounding him as he flew up at her at an incredible speed, ready to ram his sword through her heart before taking her power. Twilight just grinned, crossing her swords to catch the attack. She then quickly uncrossed her swords, knocking his sword away and leaving him open for a direct attack. "Flash Charge!" white light energy surrounded her light sword, slashing at him with the powerful attack, causing extra damage since it was the exact opposite of his dark energy.

"Guah!" Vincent was knocked back, blood tracing his flight path as his chest was slashed open. "Cyber Re-resolution!" cyber energy surrounded the wound as he sealed it up again with his power. "I will take your power yet!" he shouted at her. "Cyber Flash!" he went back to using his favorite evasive technique, but Twilight seemed to be able to parry all his attacks with her swords. She then found another opening and unleashed another specialty attack. "Twilight Twister!" she span rapidly, catching him in a large vortex of spinning ribbons of dark and light energy, launching him higher in the air. She flew straight up at him before suddenly twirling and flying above him. "Shadow Stomp!" she kicked down at his back with her foot surrounded with dark energy, sending him flying back down into one of the remaining platform pieces. She flew down next to him as he got up again. "Ready to give up?" she asked, grinning at him.

"You're REALLY starting to get on my nerves!" Vincent replied as the silver aura around him suddenly changed into a green, more powerful aura.

"What the…? He still has my power?!" Shadow asked, looking at Vincent in disbelief.

"Transcendant Chaos Spear!" he shot a powerful Chaos Spear that seemed to be shot into her body, ripping a hole in the abyss as the blast carried her outside of it back into reality before flying through after her. By this time, Sonic and Shadow had managed to climb back up as the rip started to close.

"Quick, let's get out of here!" Tails shouted, flying through the shrinking opening as Sonic and Shadow managed to jump off the platforms and jump through just in time.

"Twilight Cross!" Twilight slashed her swords in a cross, sending ribbons of light and dark energy from each sword down towards Vincent, but he seemed to have other ideas. "Chaos Control!" the move was even faster than Cyber Flash as he started warping around her, slashing her multiple times before he slammed her back down into the ground, knocking her unconscious.

"Arrow Cataclysm!" Vincent was knocked back slightly as Tails shot several more exploding arrows at him.

"How quaint," Vincent replied. "Now I think I showed all of you the true power of chaos!!" chaos energy surrounded him as he started to change, going into his super form. His hair grew, becoming even spikier and stiffening into lethal spikes as cybernetic battle armor appeared on him and his sword grew to a massive twenty feet long and he was surrounded by a powerful dark aura. He'd used the power of chaos to become one with his powers, becoming his super form, Dark Viral Vincent!

"Now, you shall all perish under my dark power!" Vincent growled as he brought his sword back, preparing to strike. Tails had been watching in awe as he transformed, quickly forming a plan in his mind, and he grinned as he realized how they could beat him.

"All right, when he attacks…Don't dodge the attack!" Tails told Sonic and Shadow.

"WHAT?!" they exclaimed at the same time.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing...Let's just say this is one time we won't need the Chaos Emeralds!" they suddenly understood what he meant as they got ready, preparing for the attack.

"Oblivon Wave!" Vincent slashed his massive sword, sending a huge wave of dark energy as Sonic, Shadow, and Tails joined hands and Shadow tapped into his natural bond to the chaos before the wave hit them, causing an explosion that raised a large cloud of dust.

"Ahahahaha, you cannot defeat…Hmm?!" Vincent broke off as he noticed three bright lights shining through the dust before three objects shot out at lightspeed, knocking him back before he saw what they were.

"WHAT?!" Vincent shouted as he saw them. It was Sonic, Shadow and Tails, who were now also in their super forms.

"Bet you didn't know we can also use the power of chaos!" Tails said, grinning as he floated in the air, several golden flickies circling around his glowing yellow body. "When you launched that thing at us, Shadow was able to draw in all the chaos energy from the attack, absorbing it and passing it on to all of us, allowing us to transform!" he explained.

"Well, you'll need more than just power to defeat me!" Vincent replied, flying at them and slashing at them with his sword, barely missing them as they managed to fly around the blade.

"Chaos…Spear!" Shadow managed to charge a Chaos Spear, knocking him back as Tails bombarded him with his flickies and Sonic finished off the combo by flying into him, sending him flying.

"Dark Spike Barrage!" darkness suddenly surrounded the long spikes in Vincent's hair as he suddenly unleashed a barrage of the dark spikes loose from it, driving the three of them back. "Dark Virus!" he shot a three-way beam from his free hand, hitting all three of them head-on and causing the darkness from the attack to slowly start spreading from the attack across their bodies.

"What the…? What is this?" Shadow asked, surprised.

"I've infected your chaos energy with the power of darkness, now it will corrupt your super form, feeding off the chaos until you have none left…Then it'll finish you off once and for all!" Sonic and Shadow were shocked by this info, but Tails merely grinned, and Vincent frowned at him. "What're you smiling about?" he demanded.

"Because, you're so intent on beating us, you're starting to sabotage yourself!" Tails replied, still grinning.

"What're you talking about?" Vincent demanded.

"Because you just targeted the chaos energy with your enhanced power, when it was strengthened WITH the chaos energy…Therefore, you just self-destructed your own super form since it's also targeting YOUR chaos energy!"

"Uh oh…" Vincent said as he realized that what Tails had told him was true. There was a large explosion of dark energy as they all were violently reverted back to normal by the dark energy simultaneously. Vincent used the resulting smokescreen to his advantage, rushing towards Twilight's unconscious form. Tails saw him as the smoke cleared and quickly used his speed to race after him.

"At last, the power of the twilight shall be mine! Transcending…" he never got the chance to phase his hand into her to take her power as Tails suddenly threw himself in between them so that Vincent's hand phased through his chest instead. "WHAT?!" Vincent cried in disbelief.

"Shocking, isn't it?" Tails asked him, and so saying, he stabbed the tip of an electrical arrow into his arm, electrocuting both of them to the very core of Vincent's power before they were thrown in different directions from the force of the sheer amount of electricity. They both got back up as Tails felt a new power flowing through him. He raised a hand, pure cyber energy emanating from it. He grinned. "It worked!"

"What the…? How are you suddenly able to use cyber magic?!" Vincent asked, perplexed.

"Because I was connected to your power as much as you were to mine!" Tails replied. "You may not realize it, but that technique can work both ways…Electrocuting us while we were connected caused an overload of cyber energy as the electricity flowed into it; your body couldn't take it, so it surged out to the only source immediately availabe…Me!" he explained. "I should thank you as well, you just unintentionally gave me your power!"

"So what, it's not like you know how to use it any better than that girl knows how to use he…."

"Cyber Apocalypse!" Tails suddenly sent Vincent flying with the same attack he'd used to defeat Shadow. "Oh yeah, did I mention I read your research and know exactly how all of your powers work?"

"How'd you get that file?!" Vincent demanded, flying towards him while surrounded with cyber energy.

"Oh come on, did you honestly think I'd just leave your base without taking the chance to learn more about you?" Tails asked. "I slapped a wireless uplink on a computer to hack into your database!" Tails then surrounded his hands with cyber energy, grabbing him and spinning him around before throwing him up into the air. He then surrounded himself with more energy, flying up and slamming a fist into his gut.

They soon engaged each other in a furious cybernetic battle, their energy flying everywhere as they used everything at their disposal to try and hit each other, including Cyber Flash!

"Enough of this…We're too evenly matched!" Vincent replied. "So now I think I should end you AND this pathetic planet! Chaos Ragnarok!" Vincent sent out all of his remaining chaos energy, generating a powerful cyber energy shield that knocked Tails back as he beamed the chaos energy into space, straight into the Eclipse Cannoon on the ARK. The shield started to expand, not allowing anyone to get near him. "With the sheer amount of chaos energy I'm transferring to the Eclipse Cannon, the resulting overload will create a blast capable of destroying this entire planet! Since I can survive in space with the power of chaos, no one will stand in my way!"

"All right, I think things just went from bad to worse!" Tails said, sweatdropping as he looked up at the scene. The Eclipse Cannon started to power up, beginning to gather all the chaos energy as it was beamed up to it.

"Tails, catch!" Majesco suddenly appeared with a long staff tipped with a glowing star ornament, throwing it to Tails. "You can increase your cyber magic to break through his shield with this! The only problem is, you'd need to use your magic to fly up to him fast enough, and it'd draw in the energy you'd surround yourself with!"

"Hey, that's no problem!" Kaylee replied as she ran up to him, pressing her keyboard into his hands.

"What is this supposed to…" Tails was cut off as she pressed a button on it and the bottom slid away, revealing Extreme Gear turbines underneath.

"I built this keyboard with the engine and turbines of an Extreme Gear…I figured that it'd make it special, since no one else would have a gear like this!" Kaylee explained.

"Well, it's just what I need right now!" Tails replied as he ran and jumped on, flying up towards Vincent as he used a nearby car for a ramp. The staff Majesco gave him glowed with his cyber energy as he blasted through the shield and threw the staff back to Majesco. He continued straight for Vincent as he drew his sword. Vincent didn't even notice him as he continued his rant, looking up to the sky.

"It's almost finished charging, soon this pathetic planet will…" he cut off short as he felt a slight, sharp pain in his chest. He looked down, surprised and fascinated to see that Tails in front of him with the blade of his sword through his heart. "Well, this was unexpected!" he said as he fell off the end of the blade, back to the ground. Tails landed, stepping off the keyboard as he went over to where Vincent lay, a pool of blood quickly growing below him. "Heh, thought you heroes were against killing!" he said as he looked up at him.

"The rules tend to change when someone threatens their entire planet!" Tails replied. Vincent laughed bitterly. "You know what I hate the most about you Mobians?" he asked him. "You never know when to quit!" he said before he closed his eyes, taking his last breath before he died.

And so, Vincent is dead and the world is saved! …For now, anyway! Anyway, review and stay tuned for one last chapter before my next story!


	15. Sunset

Here's the final chapter set after about a week or so after Vincent's death, where all the action winds down before the next s

Here's the final chapter set after about a week or so after Vincent's death, where all the action winds down before the next story's adventure! Enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen: Sunset

A week later, everybody was sitting on the cliff near Tails' workshop, watching the sunset. Tails and Twilight sat in front, their legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. Twilight seemed to have changed her look since the incident earlier that week; she'd dyed her hair to be black on one side, while it was white on the other, and she wore a t-shirt and a short skirt that matched it. The white and black represented light and darkness, symbolic of her newfound power…She also made this change since, as she'd told Tails, she never DID like her hair's green color!

Twilight sighed contentedly, resting her head on Tails' shoulder as he put an arm around her shoulder. "You know, Tails," she started. "I don't think I've ever been happier!"

"Oh?" Tails replied, looking at her.

"Mmm-hmm…For the first time in eleven years, I've finally found a new family…People who love and care about me, who strive to protect me…And I also have the power to protect myself now!"

"And I know that I'll never leave your side, either!" Tails replied, continuing to gaze at the sunset with her. Not too far away, Sonic and Amy looked up at the brightening stars that were beginning to shine from the spreading void of night.

"Thank goodness Tails took care of that Vincent guy…Maybe now we can have some peace and quiet!" Amy commented.

"You just might be right there, Ames!" Sonic replied. "But something tells me it's not going to last for TOO long…There always seems to be some new evil freak trying to take over something or other! I guess we'll just have to be ready until then!" Further away, up on a rocky ledge on the mountains, Crimson stood looking down on the two couples sitting on the cliff below together. She tensed as she sensed someone approaching, automatically starting to reach for her scythe when she saw it was just Shadow. "Oh, it's you…What do YOU want?" she spat at him. Shadow sighed. "Look, I know my actions in the past couple of weeks have put us all at a considerable risk...But I assure you, my intentions were honorable!

"The thing is, Tails is my friend, I've begun to feel closer to him from living so near him, and I didn't want anyone threatening him or anyone else he befriended...When I found you, it was a pretty uneasy time, and so with everyone who seemed to be after Twilight at the time, naturally I assumed the worse when I saw you had a picture of her…That was unacceptable considering the circumstances, and so I've come to officially apologize for misjudging you!" Shadow explained. Crimson stood there, not looking at him for a moment. "Apology accepted," she finally told him. "I'm glad you caught me before I left…I was about to go, there are still more people that need my help elsewhere…"

"Is that so?" Shadow asked, grinning. "Maybe we'll end up running into each other again!"

"I'd look forward to it!" Crimson replied, turning and smiling at him before she ran and jumped off the cliff, beating her long leathery wings powerfully as she flew gracefully across the night sky.

Meanwhile, lurking in a dark alley in Station Square, two certain morons were watching people pass by.

"Those morons…They'll have no idea what hit them once we take control!" Scratch cackled, rubbing his hands together.

"But what about Dr…."

"FORGET Eggman, Grounder, he's long gone! Don't you see it?! We're our own bots now, there's NO ONE to push us around now!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that…"

"Huh?" Scratch turned, finding a shadowy figure in the alley. "Oh yeah? Well, take this! Atomic Egg!" he launched one of his powerful projectiles, but the figure seemed to be unaffected.

"Quite unnecessary…However, your strength may be useful, perhaps we can make a deal with each other?" the figure suggested. "For you see, once I unleash MY master plan, no planet in this universe will be safe from our wrath!"

And so concludes this chapter of Tails and Twilight's adventures! The figure in the alley won't be revealed until several stories later, but he'll be teaming up with a new enemy for our heroes for the next few stories! And so, until next time, true believers!


End file.
